Hey! It’s World Read Aloud Day!
What’s World Read Aloud Day, you ask? Well, let me fill you in.
The good people at LitWorld have designated the first Wednesday of March each year to “calling worldwide attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories” and you know I’m on board. I’ll be reading Where The Wild Things Are aloud to my 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students today, and I’m willing to bet they’re going to love it.
When I created the goal of “establishing a regular practice of serving as a reading tutor” for Go Mighty, I wasn’t working as a reading teacher. I'd come to believe that committing time to reading with children is a moral imperative though, and I wanted to do something about it. I had decided to volunteer one day a week at a neighborhood school, helping struggling readers. I went for two weeks, then got hired at a different school to work part-time doing essentially the same thing. I was bummed to leave the kids I’d started volunteering with, but getting paid to do a thing always beats not getting paid to do a thing, right?
All of this to say, I think you should find some kids and read aloud to them today. Maybe you have kids of your own, which would be awfully convenient for you. Maybe you have some neighbors with kids. Maybe you could skype a read aloud with a niece or nephew or cousin or someone else who's far away. Maybe reading aloud with kids is already something you do on a daily basis. Cyber five to you if so.
LitWorld says: “World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.”
Yes, and amen.
